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IT processes and tools are constantly undergoing transformations, becoming more efficient and powerful with every industry advancement.
And while these shifts drive positive outcomes, they can also imply disruptions. Organizations may need to adopt new infrastructures, retool their staff, and migrate data---processes that can cause operational downtime and present certain risks, like data loss or security breaches.
To navigate shifts well, companies should establish a rigorous IT change management protocol that balances risks and disruptions with positive impacts. Here's what you need to know about change control, the steps involved, and the best practices that guide successful implementations.
What is IT change management?
IT change management, or IT change enablement, refers to a structured approach to technological shifts that minimizes disruptions and fosters a successful transition. This process comprises planning, assessment, approval, implementation, and review, ensuring a well-organized, coordinated change.
The three types of IT changes
IT change management is often broken into three types of change processes, defined by their immediacy, risk, and need for planning. Establishing these categories helps teams make informed decisions on next steps and align on expectations.
Standard changes
Standard changes are often low-risk, pre-approved, and backed by previously documented procedures to follow. An example of a standard change is adding a new employee to a database or getting them set up with a password.
Normal changes
Normal changes are non-emergency shifts that aren't as simple and routine as standard changes. These movements adhere to the change management lifecycle and require the input of key stakeholders, like the Change Advisory Board, for risk assessment, planning, and scheduling. Examples of normal changes include a software adoption or an infrastructure upgrade.
Emergency changes
Emergency changes require immediate action to rectify pressing issues, like a security breach or a critical tech failure. These urgent shifts require a unique change management strategy, including expedited approvals, implementations, and post-implementation reviews (PIRs) that curtail disruptions and compromised data.
The IT change management process
Many organizations follow a pre-established change management lifecycle, comprised of six key phases. This framework ensures that teams understand the process ahead and don't accidentally skip essential steps, like securing approvals.
The following steps outline how these sequences generally run, with some exceptions. For example, a simple password update (a standard change) doesn't follow the formal change management lifecycle, and an emergency change may necessitate an expedited one with support from a specialized Emergency Advisory Board.
- Submit a request for change: During this step, the change requestor (who can be a team member or someone outside the organization, depending on the ask) submits a formal appeal. In it, they state the proposed change, its objectives, the justification, and the projected impacts and benefits.
- Perform a risk and impact assessment: Upon receiving a change request, the Change Advisory Board or other business leaders review its feasibility, assessing risks, impacts on team members, tools, and resources, and potential benefits. Leaders should invite key implementation stakeholders to provide first-hand insights on risks, benefits, and minimizing disruptions.
- Secure approvals: At this stage, the Change Advisory Board (or the business leaders in charge of the change process) decides whether to sign off on the request for change. If the risks outweigh the rewards, these reviewers may cancel or delay the process. Otherwise, they'll let the change move forward.
- Plan and schedule: Change managers plan the work ahead, detailing the implementation steps, timeline, and communication strategy. They also determine a contingency plan---that is, what to do if the change management process can't be successfully completed on time and with the projected resources.
- Implement: After thorough planning, change managers and their teams proceed with the implementation, closely following the schedule and proposed steps. They document their progress and aim to meet important milestones on time, communicating setbacks immediately if they arise.
- Review: After the change has been implemented, the Advisory Board and other central stakeholders must assess its success, determining whether the plan met the proposed goals. They document deviations and problems that arose, generating a resource to inform future changes. Once the review is complete, the change management lifecycle ends, and the request for change can be marked "complete."
IT change management best practices
Managing change well relies on repeatable, established, known implementation structures. Without tight organization and transparent expectations, the change management process can suffer negative outcomes, like operational disruptions or a lack of buy-in. Use these best practices to prevent those setbacks.
- Using clear criteria to classify changes: All proposed changes should be assessed for impact, benefits, risk level, and urgency. Determining these points allows change managers to correctly classify changes as standard, normal, or emergency---important considerations for the approval process and rollout timeline.
- Applying consistent risk scoring: Companies should have a clear, consistent risk scoring matrix to prevent variable assessments. This matrix should designate risk levels based on the probability of negative impacts on business operations. High-risk changes are those that are likely to significantly disrupt operations, and they must be implemented with caution.
- Practicing excellent ITSM documentation: Keep accurate and up-to-date IT service management (ITSM) documentation as a reliable single source of truth. This documentation should include user tutorials, operational manuals, incident reports, change logs, policies, process flows, and continuous improvement plans. It should also include post-implementation review findings on previous change processes. Centralized, up-to-date documentation helps companies align their IT services and strategies to business goals, train users, identify areas of improvement, and implement change more efficiently in the future.
- Automating frequent changes: Organizations can often safely automate low-risk, standard change processes, limiting human intervention and error. For example, a company could automate routine software updates, saving the IT team the time of managing this process.
How Scribe supports the IT change management process
Scribe’s Workflow AI platform captures how work actually happens, turning processes into playbooks. Using Scribe, teams can streamline the documentation creation process to support change planning, audits, and post-implementation reviews. Visual, step-by-step documentation also improves onboarding for new hires and training for current employees, driving user confidence and reducing errors in the execution of workflows.
Whether you’re about to adopt a process improvement or train users on a recently-modified workflow, Scribe Capture generates the accurate documentation you rely on.
FAQs
How is IT change management different from release management?
IT change management is the umbrella term for all technological shifts at a company involving infrastructure, processes, hardware, software, cloud-based tools, and so on. IT release management describes a specific set of change management processes related to minimally disruptive software or hardware rollouts.
What is ITIL?
ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library and refers to documented best practices for IT services management. Early editions of the ITIL were launched in the 80s and have since been replaced with contemporary updates. Recent editions include general management, service management, and technical management practices, and IT professionals can become ITIL certified by passing an exam on these best practices.
What tools help teams manage IT changes more efficiently?
ITSM tools aligned with ITIL best practices help teams more efficiently manage change by centralizing documentation and ensuring that businesses take an organized approach to change management.
How do organizations balance fast deployment with proper risk control?
Organizations should categorize changes (standard, normal, and emergency) to identify low-risk tasks that can be automated to save time and human effort. And companies can take a strategic, incremental or progressive approach to implementing changes classified as high-risk, requiring more complex implementations.
